The desperate acts of love
by Nutmeg123
Summary: Ella Jones fell in love or at least like with Albus Severus Potter from the moment he saved her from whacking her head on a train carriage's window. My 1st Fic... reviews are nice :
1. Chapter 1

_Breathe in, breathe out_, she coached herself, _ok time to do this_. She opened her eyes to look at the offending brick wall. Technically it wasn't even a wall, just an apparition._ You'll slide right through_, she repeated the words of Professor Longbottom, the man (wizard) who had come to explain that she was, in fact, a witch and should be attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He'd seemed slightly mad at first, but it had been explained.

And now she was standing a couple of paces in front of the wall between platforms 9 and 10, her family of seven (not including her) behind her with her things. She took a deep breath. Was she going to stand here and let a _wall_ stop her from learning how to use the 10 inch maple and dragon-heartstring wand that had _chosen_ her? No, she was not! She squared her shoulders, tossed her strawberry-blonde ringlets over her shoulders and strode towards the barrier, family in tow.

Her skull didn't crack on the impact, because there was no impact. Professor Longbottom was right. She gasped at the view on the platform. It was buzzing, filled with the chatter of _wizard _fathers lifting trunks onto the scarlet train, _witch_ mothers kissing cheeks and berating her fellow classmates.

She couldn't help it; she felt a huge, idiotic grin spreading across her face.

"P'raps we should get your stuff on the train, no one else seems to be standing around gaping." Her father shuffled his feet awkwardly, looking very out of place in his faded jeans when most of the adults were in robes.

"Leave her alone Dad, she's taking everything in." Her fourth-oldest sister whacked her dad's arm, her fiery orange hair swinging. She felt a pang as she watched her three other sisters start in on her dad. She had never really been away from them! And now she wouldn't be seeing them until Christmas! She threw herself into the middle of the hubbub, exclaiming;

"I love you guys!" she looked up at them and laughed "we're colour-coded." And so they were. Abbey, the oldest, laughed, her white-blonde bob practically glowing, Celia was next, her honey blonde hair in a braid. Then Bridget, her blonde hair only hinting at strawberry, then herself, Ella, and, lastly, Deena, who was the only one to have inherited their fathers orange hair.

She turned to her parents.

"Have fun, pumpkin." her dad tossled her hair. She nodded.

"Write to us at least once a week." Her mother walked her to the train and hugged her swiftly. She hopped on and tried to gulp down the lump in her throat. Unsucceeding, she still waved as cheerily as she could, smiling, before turning away and going to find a carriage. the whistles blew and doors were slammed. She wasn't expecting the train to jerk so suddenly, which could explain why she found herself launched into a carriage straight smack into another person. she felt the blush spreading over her neck and cheeks like wildfire as she looked up.

He was her age, and also blushing, though perhaps not as scarlet. She cursed her father and his horrid hair. He was a couple inches taller (though she was a bit of a midget, it wasn't surprising), pale like her, but his hair was short, black and stuck out in a million different directions, giving the odd impression, him being so thin, of a que-tip. His eyes, though, were beautiful. They were so _green _behind his glasses.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, realising they'd just been silent for the last twenty seconds and there was someone else in the carriage and leaped away from him "The train- it was all so sudden and- I'm so sorry!" she finished lamely, feeling like her face was on fire.

"It's alright," the girl, who had bushy orange hair (reminding her of Deena), smiled kindly. "whats your name?" she asked

"It's Ella," she half-smiled back, still embarassed "Ella Jones."


	2. Meeting the WeasleyPotter clan

"I'm Rose Weasley," the girl said "are you muggle-born?"

_Muggle-born?_ Ella thought to herself, _oh, right, non-magical people_.

"How did you know?" she asked, still blushing, nervous.

"Oh, don't worry," Rose Weasley pulled Ella down onto the seat next to her "you just didn't recognise my last name. Everyone does, you see, it's kind of annoying. So you're a bit of a breath of fresh air." this was all said at an amazing speed. Ella found herself wondering how many words Rose could say in one breath. Ella turned to the boy.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Albus Potter." He half-smiled at her after a moment.

"Are you two famous or something?"

"Or something," Rose giggled "our parents are, but apparently not in the muggle world."

"No, never heard of them." Ella said. "Are you two brother and sister?"

"Cousins," Rose explained "on my dad's side."

She was about to ask if she was meant to know a lot about the wizarding world (would there be some kind of test on it at Hogwarts?) when a bang drew her eyes to the door. Smooshing their faces against the glass were two older boys, a group of their friends giggling behind them.

"Well, Albus you certainly work fast don't you?" the boy was freckled and had hair as fiery as Rose's and grinned as he opened the door.

"You're right, Fred, I might have to question him on his techniques." The other boy had hair like Albus's, but a shade lighter, brown eyes and no glasses. "It's been, what, two minutes since the train left?" The boy wriggled his eyebrows.

"And he already got a girl." The orange haired boy grinned down at Ella and took her hand. "Enchanté, mademoiselle," he kissed her knuckles. Ella snatched her hand back, embarrassed, and peeked through her eyelashes at Albus, who was blushing.

"Fred, James, if you're going to insult my friends you can leave." Rose, Ella realised, had one hell of a glare.

"You cut me to the core, cousin!" Fred gasped, dramatically, collapsing on the seat next to Albus

"Oh, Fred, how are we ever to survive without the love of the lovely Rose?" James pressed a hand to his heart.

"Fred, James, leave your cousins alone." A boy with turquoise hair berated, a badge proclaiming 'HB' glittered on his chest.

"The, uh, _lucky_," James winked "head boy has spoken Fred, we better go." They hopped up and the obnoxious group left.

"Alright Al?" the head boy nodded to Albus.

"We're good." Albus nodded back, "Thanks, Teddy."

"It's what I'm here for." He smiled kindly "who's your friend?"

"I'm Ella." She smiled. He may have been much older and very tall but he had a kind look about him.

"Nice to meet you," he shook her hand.

"Oh, Teddy, there you are." A girl with long straight hair, so gold it glowed, sashayed in; she took a look around "Rosie! Al!" she exclaimed. "It's your first year! This is so exciting! You guys are going to be so great! And who's this?" she leaned forward, hair swinging, and shook Ella's hand. Ella sat, tongue-tied for a moment, wondering how someone could be that pretty, when she realised she was meant to give her name

"Uh, El-Ella Jones," she stammered and promptly turned bright red.

"Ella, I like that name." the girl mused "I'm Victoire Weasley by the way, these two's cousin." She smiled radiantly. Ella supposed there wasn't any other way for that girl to smile.

"You have a lot of cousin's don't you?" Ella laughed.

"Let's just say that the Potter-Weasley clan is planning to take over, slowly, the whole of Gryffindor house." Teddy laughed.

"And then they'll start on Ravenclaw." Victoire gestured to her blue and bronze tie.

"We better be heading off, more carriages to patrol." Teddy placed a hand on Victoire's waist, pulling her closer to him and the door.

"alright, and you three," She pointed to the three first years "Rose, you won't get teased about your hair, Albus, you're parents are _Harry Potter_ and _Ginny Weasley_ there's no way you'll get in Slytherin and Ella," she smiled another magnificent smile "You're going to be just fine with these two."

"What do you think about house spirit...?" Teddy's voice faded but Ella still caught the flash of colour as his turquoise hair switched abruptly to a shorter style, this one striped red and yellow. A pink and blonde braid could be seen hanging from behind his ear with the new style.

"He just-!" Ella pointed, too shocked to form words.

"He's a metamorphagus," Rose said helpfully "it means he can change his looks without a wand."

"Oh," there was so much to take in. She really should've taken a closer look at all of her books. There was definitely going to be some kind of test.

"You two should really get into your robes," she gestured to her own black ensemble.

*

The train screeched to a halt, throwing Ella into Cassie Dean, a mocha-skinned girl with a mass of dark curls who had befriended Rose in the three minutes it had taken Ella to get changed into her robes, which, she now realised, we're a few inches too long. The train jerked again, bumping her into Albus.

"Sorry," she pushed herself to her feet, blushing, "sorry,"

"It's fine, it's your robes." Cassie giggled "you look so swamped!"

"Leave her alone, we all look swamped," Albus defended.

"Thanks," she smiled at him. He really was nice.

"Please leave your baggage and pets on the train." A neutral voice echoed down the carriages.

"Fir' years!" a shout was raised from outside "Over here!"

They stumbled off the train, following the voice. It belonged to the biggest man Ella had ever seen. He was tall (leaning towards 8 ft) and wide, very wide. His size alone would have been intimidating, but he was also wearing a few animal furs and his hair! A tangled, straggly lion's mane streaked with grey and a beard just as wild to match.

"Firs' years!" the man boomed "Albus! Got a shock, I thought you were yeh dad!"

"Hi, Hagrid!" Rose bounced up to him. Ella took a look around, steam obscured most of the platform as it had done in London. Ella wondered how far away she was from Hogwarts.

"Rose!" Hagrid leaned down to hug the girl, who looked tiny, compared to Hagrid's rubbish-bin lid hands. "Good teh see yer! And who're you?" He smiled at Ella.

"I'm Ella." She gave a half-hearted smile. She looked at his hands; one of them could probably engulf her arm up to her elbow… and then crush it, with minimal effort. She gulped.

"Well, good to meet yer, Ella, good to meet yer!" he energetically pumped her arm with his own.

"You too," Ella managed as she giggled. He then did the same to Cassie, before gathering more first years. Ella noted the older students were all heading off up a track, laughing amongst themselves.

"Alrigh'! Follow me!" Hagrid, his lantern swinging set off down a muddier track from the one the older students had gone down. Ella had a sincere desire to be older, as she tripped over a stone. Granted, everyone except Hagrid seemed to be having trouble. Ella tripped again, this time not being able to catch herself and collided with Albus in front of her.

"You really do need better robes," he laughed as they both got off the ground, dusting themselves off.

"Oh-my hem-the rock-tripped-the path- I'm sorry, I know." She stopped babbling, feeling like her stupid face was on fire, _again_.

"Yer firs' look at the castle is up ahead!" Hagrid pointed as they came 'round a bend. And there it was, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, in all its turreted and glittering windows glory. She smiled, even though she felt the first of most likely many stirrings of nervousness in her stomach.

"I'm starting to get nervous!" Rose bounced up as they lost sight of the castle "what if I'm the only Weasley who doesn't get into Gryffindor?"

"Don't worry," Cassie soothed "you'll only be the biggest prat ever,"

"You're so sweet."

"I try." She smiled angelically at her.

"Righ'" Hagrid boomed as they came up on the shallows of a dark lake, in which a line of small boats sat "four teh a boat!"

"Perfect," Rose smiled as they all hopped in. Hagrid, due to his size, had a boat all to himself.

"All in? Off we go!" the boats smoothly took off across the glass smooth lake. Ella jiggled her leg nervously. Was it five minutes, or thirty seconds, until they reached Hogwarts?

Suddenly, a huge tentacle, with suction cups the size of her whole hand, popped out of the lake next to their boat, and actually gave a funny little wiggle as if waving.

"It's an octopus!" Cassie shrieked.

"It's a squid," Ella corrected as the tentacle slid back under "And they don't eat people."

"How do you know that?" Rose raised her eyebrows.

"I like animals," Ella shrugged and blushed.

"I _hate_ squids!" Cassie shuddered. "Or octopus's, whatever, they're _gross_."

"I ag-"

"Duck," Albus cut in shoving both Rose and Ella's heads down so they wouldn't be clipped by the low vines that hung from the entrance to an underground cavern that appeared out of nowhere.

"Thanks," Ella muttered to him.

"S'alright," He muttered as they hopped out and Ella tripped over the hem of her robes again.

"You know Ella," Cassie laughed as she hauled Ella back to her feet "You blush almost constantly."

She blushed even more.


	3. Singing hats

Right, this may be very weird, but every time I see the little favourites alert or the review alert thingies it just gives me this big goofy grin. So, uh, I'd like to continue that big goofy grin thing even though I look like, well, a big goofy grinning idiot, so review!!! I'm very sorry about my rhyming. And I don't own Harry Potter.

* * *

Ella bit her lip as she looked up at the castle looming over her. It hadn't looked this big from the bend in the path! But it was; it was huge, looking like something out of a medieval storybook. The light from the windows high above her cast patches of light across the grass. The group was huddled in one of these patches. Rose suddenly caught her over-long sleeve and squeezed her fingers.

"We're going to be fine." She whispered. She seemed to be half-talking to Ella and half-talking to herself. "Victoire said so, and she's always right." Ella squeezed her fingers back, hoping it was reassuring.

"Everyone ready?" Hagrid called over their heads. There was some scattered nods and yes's. "Alrigh' then." He raised a gigantic fist and pounded it on the door. Ella stood on her tiptoes, trying to get a glimpse inside before they went in. Unfortunately everyone else seemed to have the same idea and Ella, on her tiptoes, was everyone else's height normally and only saw a row of heads. She could hear someone talking to Hagrid and the group moved forward.

"Merlin's beard!" Ella heard someone exclaim, as they all looked around the room they had just entered. The huge wooden doors Hagrid had pounded on thudded shut behind her with a dull boom. She bit her lip again. If it was possible for something to look bigger from the inside than it did on the outside, Hogwarts castle achieved it. She wondered for a moment how big the rest of the castle was, if this was just the _entrance hall_.

It was marble, done in tan, with a grand staircase off to their left, a passageway lined with paintings next to it. To their right were a couple of doors which she supposed led off to more passageways. She only noticed these facts, though, after she'd taken a good look at what was right in front of her.

Double doors the same size as them main ones she'd just walked through, though in a lighter shade of wood, had a beautiful black tapestry above it, embroidered with glowing white flowers of all sorts that actually seemed to wave in a wind that wasn't there. The inscription, also in a glowing white, read

"_To those honourable witches, wizards and magical creatures alike who gave their lives in the Great Battle of Hogwarts against Voldemort and his followers. May your memory be cherished by those you saved."_

Ella felt a twinge of sadness, even though she didn't even know anyone who died, or even that there had been a Great Battle of Hogwarts, it was just the mournful beauty of the embroidery and the curlicue inscription. Hagrid waved cheerily to them and slipped through the doors.

"Eyes on me please!" a voice commanded. It belonged to a tall, regal looking woman, her iron-coloured hair pulled back severely and piled on her head. "My name is Professor McGonagall and I am your deputy headmistress. You are about to enter the Great Hall, where you will be sorted into one of the four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin. You will sleep in your house dormitories; go to classes in your house groups; eat at your house tables. In short, everything you will do from this point will be done in your houses. If you work hard, you earn house points. You lose points for rule-breaking. The house with the most points at the end of the year wins the House cup." She looked over them severely "Understood?" there were earnest nods.

"Get into a straight line." She ordered briskly "and straighten up!" Ella saw her eyes linger on Albus's insane hair with a look of resignation. Ella pulled a ribbon out of her pocket and tied her hair back, feeling her stomach stir with what appeared to be the most violent set of butterflies to ever accost her stomach. Her lip found its way back to between her teeth. In front of her, Rose gave a squeak of nervousness. McGonagall surveyed them, spun on her heel and pushed the huge doors open

Four long tables, set with gold plates and goblets, were filled with students in black robes. Underneath the robes, Ella could see they were wearing a grey sweater and, under that, a striped tie with their house colours. Hovering above the house tables, in mid-air, were hundreds of white candles filling the room with a bright, if flickering, glow. Ella tilted her head up. She knew that they were inside, but there was no ceiling and the stars glittering above her just seemed so real.

"It's an enchantment," Rose whispered in her ear, ever the helpful one, "my mum told me about it." Her whisper was one of many that had spread across the hall amongst scattered giggling. As if flicking a switch, it went silent again as McGonagall's heels clicked across the marble to place a rickety stool and hat in front of the High Table. Ella wrinkled her nose in confusion. It was all very anticlimactic, really. It was just a hat, and an odd one at that… until it started to sing. Ella felt like her chin was going to hit the floor. A wide rip in the hat, near the brim, served as its mouth, and a few well-placed wrinkles for eyes.

_Lean closer, young children,_

_Let me whisper in you ear._

_I have a tale to tell_

_Just for you to hear_

_There once was a gathering of four,_

_Great minds that liked to think:_

_Sly Slytherin, Witty Ravenclaw,_

_Jolly Hufflepuff __and Bold Gryffindor._

"_Young minds is what we want!" they sung,_

"_To fill with lots of stuff"_

"_We'll teach until we're dead and done_

_And Gryffindor pulled me from his ruff_

"_We'll use this hat," he said_

"_To decide who we teach"_

_He flicked his wand and there I was_

"_Students for us four each!"_

_And here we are, years anon_

_Primed and ready to learn_

_So step up and try me on_

_And see what I discern_

Ella didn't feel very relieved. She wasn't sure if there was enough in her head for the hat to decide. A knowledge of animals wasn't very bold, or witty, or jolly, or sly, it was just a little… weird, as Rose had said. Still, she squared her shoulders and tried to feel confident.

"I will call your names and you can step up and put the hat on." McGonagall pulled out a scroll and unrolled it.

"Boot, Abigail!" McGonagall called. Boot, Abigail, looking rather green, tottered up to the chair and pulled the hat on, which fell over her eyes. It paused for a moment before shouting

"RAVENCLAW!" The table on the middle right exploded in cheers. Bulstrode, Harold became a Slytherin who Rose whispered were unpleasant. A Hufflepuff, another Ravenclaw, another Gryffindor, a Hufflepuff and then:

"Jones, Ella!" She sucked in a breath and started towards the hat, glancing behind her. Rose gave her a thumbs-up, Cassie mimed pulling her hem up and Albus gave her a funny little half grimace-smile thing which almost made her giggle. She pulled her hem of her robes, which caused a few giggles, and hopped up on the stool. Her feet didn't even touch the ground. She pulled the hat on and it fell over her eyes. She jumped as a voice sounded in her ear.

"Ah, a muggle-born, not many of these lately," it whispered "but that's not a bad thing, no… very worried aren't we? Unsure, though a lot of nerve, very at odds with the rest of you, very determined, yes…" it trailed off "GRYFFINDOR!" She jumped again as it shouted, and ripped the hat off her head and tripped, not caring about her hem, to the table on the far left, relieved. She laughed as she felt saw someone pointing a wand at her and her previously white ribbon was now red. She glanced up at the headmaster, sitting in the middle of the High Table, a rather young man with sandy hair and a pompous look about him. She scanned the rest of the table.

A dark-haired Slytherin, a Ravenclaw, a brief shocked, silent period as a boy with ice-blonde hair and a pointed chin was sorted into Ravenclaw. Apparently, that wasn't meant to happen. A Hufflepuff, then…

"Potter, Albus!" Scattered whispers broke out. Ella supposed it was the famous thing. She crossed her fingers under the table. The hat was there for only a moment before

"GRYFFINDOR!" she couldn't help a huge grin split her face as he walked up to her. She heard an odd clicking sound as Albus came to sit across from her, but ignored it.

"Now there's just Rose and Cassie." He whispered to her. Two Slytherins, more Hufflepuffs, she cheered for three new Gryffindors, a few Slytherins…

"Thomas, Cassie!" Cassie sauntered up, looking the picture of confidence, with only a slight twitch of her mouth to say she was nervous. Ella felt a twinge of sympathy for her new friend as she sat on the stool. She stayed there for almost a full minute, or at least enough time for awkward coughing to start, before the hat shouted the inevitable Gryffindor. When you looked up bold, there would probably be a picture of Cassie; there wasn't any other house for her to be in. Two Ravenclaws, a Gryffindor, a Slytherin…

"Weasley, Rose!" Rose, who looked like she was cursing her name, tossed her hair and almost ran to the stool. The hat seemed to barely touch the tip of her head before it screeched

"GRYFFINDOR!"

* * *

"Well, that was eventf-" the end of Cassie's sentence was cut off by Ella's shriek as her foot slid right through what had looked like the solid surface of the step. She whimpered miserably as she grabbed her leg at the knee and tried to tug it out of the step, but it wouldn't budge.

"Oh you poor thing!" a fifth-year Ravenclaw girl cried out and gestured to her friend to some help. They took her by the elbows and hauled her out.

"Oh, thanks," Ella mumbled, blushing.

"Its fine," the girl wave her hand, brushing it off "just watch for the vanishing steps," she trilled as the two girls jogged off. Ella could still hear them talking.

"Did you see who she was walking with…?" she heard the friend say. Ella glanced at Albus next to her. He seemed to be the most famous.

"No," Rose giggled, "_That _was eventful."

"Keep up," Teddy called, as he led through yet another tapestry. Ella tried to document what everything looked like but it was hard, what with the painting actually moving. Yes, the people in the paintings were waving and they even walked right out of their frames to talk to people in other paintings. Was everything in this place that wasnt meant to move do just that? Up another staircase, down a corridor and Teddy stopped in front of an ornately framed painting of a fat woman in pink silk.

"This," Teddy gestured to the woman "is the Fat Lady. She is your gateway to the wonders of the Gryffindor common room. To get into the common room, you have to give her the password, which changes every week. Forget the password and you'll be sleeping in the corridor and I don't think any of you fancy that."

"Password?" the Lady drawled.

"Fawkes." Teddy said, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a hole in the wall. Teddy led the way through. As Ella stepped up, she realised she would need help.

"Um," she coughed. Albus turned around and stuck his hand out, which she took, and hauled her up.

"You really are short," He grinned.

"Don't you start," she playfully shoved him and blushed.

* * *

Right, I'm very sorry if I disapointed anyone's dreams with the whole Scorpius thing, but if you stick around it will make sense... Review please!


	4. Bilius the owl

Right, well, now I think we can get my nose out of the philosopher's stone, which I think will be muchly enjoyed by all, I hope. Did anyone (apart from cheesecake15, the darling,) like my little tapestry touch? And as for any headmaster confusion, all will be revealed. Thanks also to Maggie Bee, oh my Buddha its nice to find someone who gets that squidgy feeling too! And I am very sorry for any screw-ups!

* * *

Waking up to crimson bed hangings was something, Ella decided as she blinked sleepily, she would definitely get used to. She sat up and shook her head, curls swinging, clearing sleep out of her head. She tiptoed towards Cassie's bed, trying not to disturb their other dorm mates, Harriet, a stand-offish lanky girl, and Tahlia, a half-Asian girl with a bit of a temper. She leaped onto Cassie's bed, who woke up with a shriek.

"Wake up!" she grinned down at her gasping friend.

"Where's the fiendfyre?" Rose sat up, blinking blearily.

"Whats that?" Ella tilted her head.

"Cursed fire." Rose collapsed back on the bed, realising nothing was wrong.

"Why are we all shouting?" Tahlia mumbled, her dark head only just visible from beneath her sheets.

"Because we have to get up!" Ella sung, hopping off Cassie and skipping over to her closet to start pulling on her uniform.

"We'll get up at an appropriate hour." Cassia growled.

"Fine." Ella harrumphed, pulling on her billowy black cloak "I'll just go by myself." She spun on a heel and clomped down the stairs, trying not to trip on her hem.

The common room was very cosy, all squishy crimson armchairs and crackling fire, but at this time in the morning it was also very empty; the only other person was Albus.

"Hi," He smiled and looked up from the letter he was writing. A rather odd-looking grey owl perched on the table next to him.

"Hi," she smiled back "Who are you writing to?"

"My parents," He raised his quill "And my little sister."

"Who's this?" she stretched a hand towards the owl and stroked the soft feathers.

"Bilius." Albus smiled as if remembering something "Named after my great-great uncle,"

"Oh," Bilius hopped closer to her so she could pet him more easily. It was quiet for a moment.

"What're you doing up so early?" Albus asked.

She shrugged "I'm always up this early. You?"

He blushed slightly, and Ella noticed it made his eyes look even greener.

"Nerves," he muttered, quickly changing the subject "Have you ever seen a letter being sent by owl post, it's not much but…?"

"No, I haven't." she smiled and followed him towards the window. He pushed it open and Bilius, letter in his beak, took off from Albus's forearm. They watched the owl grow smaller, in the peaceful morning.

* * *

Magical classes were a whole lot more interesting than muggle ones. Charms was her favourite class and she found herself sad that tiny, old Professor Flitwick would be leaving next year. Herbology, with Professor Longbottom, Ella would've liked just for the teacher, but she found learning about the dangerous plants rather fascinating. Defence Against the Dark Arts was everyone's favourite, the teacher an enthusiastic young woman with huge brown eyes. Transfiguration, with Professor McGonagall Ella had liked until she'd found out most of it was tested on animals. History of Magic was odd as Ella found herself contemplating every time whether the wizarding world actually made the saying "you woke up dead" true. Potions had also been a learning experience, but not about the subject, which honestly seemed rather complex.

"Albus, my boy!" Professor Slughorn had boomed, pumping Albus's hand rather energetically for someone so old "you look just like your father! One of my best students, he was! Just like your Grandmother! Great people they were, but I guess you know that!" he'd clapped Albus n the back. The exchange had only made Ella more curious, as no one else had gotten such a warm welcome.

"Are you ever going to tell me why you're so famous?" she asked over lunch.

Albus mumbled something incoherent.

"I'm going to find out eventually," Ella warned, waving her fork at him.

"We know," Rose said "but we are going to bask in the glory of you not knowing until the day you find out."

"If I'm going to find out, why can't you just tell me?!" She wailed.

"Because you like them 'cause they're nice, not because they're famous." Cassie explained.

"Yeah," Albus nodded, and changed the subject, poking Ella in the side "Hey Ella? Why don't you eat meat?"

"Because the thought of eating something that once moved, and breathed and felt pain," she grimaced towards his Sheppard's pie "is just sick and something I don't fancy."

"Oh,"

Ella glanced up at the head table and caught sight of the person sitting in the headmaster's chair. This time it was a woman with a severe looking glare.

"What happened to the Headmaster?" Ella asked. Had the pompous blond man been injured?

"Oh, didn't you know? Their doing job interviews for the headmaster-slash-headmistress. The man we saw before was Ernie Macmillan; he was a Hufflepuff here, same year as my parents. That woman up there is Anne Cahor. Beauxbatons." Rose scrunched up her face "Ernie Macmillan may be a pompous git, but he's better than a Beauxbatons any day."

"Didn't your aunt got to Beauxbatons?" Cassie reminded.

Rose snorted and tossed her head.

"We should probably head up to Transfiguration now," Albus stood. Rose's expression darkened even more into something quite scary.

"That's with the Ravenclaws," Ella mumbled, biting her lip.

"I hate him!" Rose exploded. "Thinks he's so smart, sitting there with those smug little grins, well just you wait, I'm going to do what my dad told me and I'm going to beat that Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy in every single test from now until seventh year!" she waved her arms crazily as the stairs jerked, moving them to the third floor when they needed to be on the first "He's such a prat!" she glared at the stairs as if Malfoy had made them move.

"You know, I think she likes him a little bit." Cassie breathed into Ella's ear, giggling. Ella glanced at Albus out the corner of her eye, thinking of boys she liked a bit more than a little bit.

* * *

Dear family,

Meet Bilius! He's my friend Albus's owl. If theres another letter not in my handwriting and not addressed to us, DON'T OPEN IT! It's for Albus's family.

My classes are going well. At the moment Charms and Herbology are my favourites, even if I'm not that good at them. Hogwarts is huge! And everything _moves_! All the staircases, the people in the paintings, the suits of armour, and the plants in Herbology (which are rather angry)!

Yes, I have made friends. Their names are Albus Potter, Rose Weasley and Cassie Thomas. Cassie and Rose were a little overwhelming to start with, but Albus is really nice.

Albus and Rose are cousins, and their parents are really famous in the wizarding world, but thats not why I'm friends with them, of course. Apparently, Albus's dad, Harry Potter, killed the most evil wizard in history who had been terrorising the wizarding world for decades. Rose's parents were Harry's best friends and helped him defeat this dark wizard and then Harry married Ron's (thats Rose's dad) sister after the big war was finished and they all lived happily ever after. Well, sort of. a lot of people died, they have a memorial for it at school and we're learning about the Great Battle of Hogwarts in History of Magic. Did you know ghosts are real? Professor Binns is one, he teaches History of Magic, and he's not scary at all. None of the ghosts are.

It's amazing here, everything's so fascinating, but I still miss you guys. Christmas seems a very long time away, but I suppose it will pass in no time.

I love you all,

Ella

P.S I wont forget to write next week, I promise!


	5. The reunion

Well, that was a sort of underwhelming response, no reviews that is, though i did get a couple of story alerts so thank you! Keep putting the word out!

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"Ok, today we'll be doing something fun." Professor Longbottom called over the hubbub. He was conjuring huge squares of black material which were gluing themselves to the greenhouse ceiling, cutting off the direct sunlight. The greenhouse had been drastically renovated for this lesson. Instead of the usual long bench in the centre, a large pit had been dug, which was covered by another colossal square of black material. The mound under the material was twitching slightly.

"What are we doing, sir?" Yves Harris, a Hufflepuff and a fellow member of the small group of muggleborns, asked.

"This," Professor Longbottom jabbed his wand at the material (which disappeared in a puff of smoke) and revealed a mass of roiling and jostling green vines, "is a very drowsy sample of Devil's Snare. Can anyone tell me what Devil's Snare does?"

"It suffocates its prey if it moves." Albus spoke up. "The more you move, the tighter it becomes."

"Very good. Five points to Gryffindor. Can anyone tell me what the antidote to Devil's Snare is?"

"Light." It was Rose this time. "Devil's Snare can't stand light."

"Another five points for Gryffindor." Professor Longbottom smiled. "Today, you will be playing a game of tag with this Devil's Snare. When you get caught by Devil's snare, give a shout, I'll sort you out and you can come stand by me. The last person to be caught wins a prize."

"Sir?" Ella stuck her hand up. "Could I please sit out?" the thought of running around and trying not to get caught by a dangerous suffocating plant in light of what was about to happen frankly made Ella want to throw up.

"Of course, but why?"

"We have a flying lesson after this, sir," Cassie smirked. Ella felt too nauseous at the word flying to retaliate.

"Not a keen flyer then, Ella?" Professor Longbottom asked as the game started up. He jabbed his wand, which shot an orb of light at a vine that had caught the foot of someone instantly.

"No, sir." Ella tried to remember how to breathe. The thought of flying made her dizzy.

"No, I wasn't either in my first year. Never really have been after my first lesson." Another shout went up and Professor Longbottom flicked his wand coolly towards the noise "Broke my wrist in two places." Ella gaped at him in horror. Broken bones! "Oh but I'm sure that you'll do fine, it was the broom's fault, school brooms are faulty… not that you'll get a faulty broom- I was just-" He trailed off into silence. Ella leaned against the wall and tried not to be sick down her front.

"Right, my name is Wood." The burly, broad-shouldered man strode down the aisle made by the broomsticks and students "not Professor Wood, not "mister" Wood, just Wood." Ella bit her lip. The offending instrument of torture lay on the ground in front of her in all its thin wooden horror.

"Got that?" everyone nodded. "Good. Now, I know most of you already know how to fly and have been doing so for a very long time, but some of you don't, so we are all starting from the beginning." He glared at them, as if challenging them to speak against him "Good. On my say so, you will hold your left hand over the broomstick and say 'up' in a clear, loud voice." Ella's knees bumped together as her legs shook. Was she running out of oxygen? "Alright, go!"

"UP!" the chorus of voices sounded. Ella watched the others. The word had barely left Albus's mouth when the broom leapt into his hand, Rose's a split-second after. Cassie had to try a second time.

"Jones?" Wood barked "we're waiting on you!"

Ella extended a shaking hand over the broom.

"Steady, Jones!" she dimly heard Wood shout. Was that her heart beat pounding in her ears? The world seemed to be spinning awfully fast… too fast…she glanced down at the broom. In a second it would be in her hand, it didn't look stable enough to hold her… She would fall off and break her wrist just like Professor Longbottom… Weren't humans meant to stay on the ground? She opened her mouth and a mumble of "up" left her mouth before her eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed

"Albus! Back, Fang, and yeh've brought Ella! Good teh see yer!" Hagrid beamed down at them, his hand restraining a huge black boarhound. He led them into his hut.

"Good to see you too, Hagrid." Ella smiled as she crouched down to pet Fang. She wrinkled her nose as he licked her face.

"Where's that cousin o' yer's?" Hagrid asked as he bustled around, making tea.

"She said she'd be down in a minute. I there's going to be a bit of a Potter-Weasley clan reunion."

"That's grea'" Hagrid beamed, putting the steaming tea pot on the table. He caught sight of Ella on the floor with Fang, scratching his belly.

"I swear, that dog is in love with yeh. Yeh've got a way with animals."

Ella blushed, but smiled at the compliment.

"I know!" Albus exclaimed "Yesterday, the giant squid practically beached itself to get to her! It was amazing!"

"We were throwing it food." Ella reminded, cursing her blushing cheeks.

"It was a piece of toast!"

"Well, in any case, I got a feeling you're going to be on o' meh favourites."

"You teach, Hagrid?" Ella tilted her head in surprise.

"O' course, Care o' Magical Creatures!" Hagrid exclaimed "In yer third year!"

"I didn't even know there was a Care of magical creatures!" Ella exclaimed. Ten very knowledgeable minutes later there was brisk knocking on the door. Fang slowly rose to hid feet, let out a half-hearted bark, then collapsed back down onto Ella's lap. She scratched his ears as Hagrid pulled open the door.

"Hi Hagrid!" Rose greeted as she lead most of the Weasleys, James and Cassie in. "Teddy and Victoire said they'd only be a minute, same with Molly, she wanted to finish some Charms homework, the swot!"

"Hey, if yer anything like yer mum, you'll be one of those too."

"They were only assigned it today, right Roxie?" Rose turned to her cousin, a third year and Fred's older sister, who was one of the few who hadn't inherited the Weasley freckles.

"Mmm, she is a swot," Dominique, also a third year, and looked uncannily like a red-haired version of Victoire, mused.

"Enough o' that." Hagrid ordered. "How's Quidditch?"

That really got them going. Roxanne (Roxie), Dominique and James were chasers, Fred was a beater, all for the Gryffindor team with Rose and Albus trying out next year, the team looked set to be almost all Weasley-Potter.

"Wait," Rose said a few minutes later, after Teddy and Victoire had arrived "Where's Ella?"

"She's here," Albus said from where he'd joined her on the floor with Fang.

"What're you two doing on the floor?" Lucy, Molly's sister, looked horrified at the two hair-and-slobber-covered children.

"It's harder to look up." Ella grimaced towards the meats that hung from the ceiling.

"Albus?" Lucy asked

"She looked lonely." Albus shrugged, Ella smiled at him. A sudden silence spread through the females (except Ella) as they all exchanged glances. Ella froze as she recognised that silence, what with four older sisters, but that would mean… she stole a glance at Albus but bit her lip and quickly looked away.

"Say it and you will ruin everything!" Dominique burst out, making Fred jump from his confused silence.

"Ella!" Hagrid suddenly boomed "Got summat to show you! Albus and Rose you'll enjoy this too!" He hopped up and led the four first years out the door.

"I love it how he only remembers the names of his favourites…"

Once the door had shut, they burst into chatter.

"I knew it!" Victoire squealed "From the way she smiled at him on the train!"

"Knew what," Teddy asked, bewildered at the sudden burst of excitement.

"That Ella is completely in love with Albus of course, and that he likes her even though he doesn't realise it yet," Roxanne exclaimed as if it were obvious.

"What?" James spat out the still rock-like bite of cake he'd been trying to salvage with tea.

"You didn't notice?" Molly asked, stepping into the hut.

"How did you hear?"

"Well, partly my namesakes ears and partly the screeching."

"Do you think they could hear us?" Lucy fretted.

"no, too absorbed in the hippogriffs. Who's Ella, anyway?"

"The tiny first-year with the red-hair-"

"Not hard to pick out around here." Fred muttered, causing James to smirk.

"Anyway," Lucy glared, "You know her, and she's got those huge blue eyes. the picture of adorable."

"The one who fainted before even getting the broom into her hand." James finished helpfully.

"Oh yeah," Molly looked off into the distance "She was the one who Albus and Rose wouldn't speak to me for a day over…"

"Why?"

"She's muggleborn and didn't know why we are famous, so I told her."

"Typical." Victoire snorted.

"So she doesn't like him for his fame, then?"

"No, I think she fell for his natural Potter charm and kindness they forgot to give you, James"

James made a rude gesture at Roxanne, who stuck her tongue out.

"Merlin, that was amazing!" Ella exclaimed as they burst in, "Buckbeak's just so beautiful"

"No he wasn't, he was about to eat you, I swear!" Cassie waved her arms crazily.

"How would you know, Cass?" Rose teased "You were hidden behind Hagrid the whole time."

"Where's your Gryffindor bravery, Thomas?" Fred mocked.

"Wanna know where I can shove your Gryffindor bravery, Weasley?" Cassie challenged.

"I swear, your parents never argued or insulted as much!" Hagrid shook his head.

"Didn't Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione argue all the time?" Dominique reminded.

"I forge' the details." Hagrid waved a hand, and poured more tea. Ella sat back on the floor, and daydreamed absent-mindedly about riding Buckbeak, maybe over the lake, or maybe to France, France was nice. She stroked Fang until her hand brushed against something that definitely wasn't fur-covered. She looked down at Albus's hand and looked up to meet his eyes. She blushed hotly.

"Sorry," they both mumbled.

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So, let me know what you think. reviews are really, really nice, even if their bad, telling me this is shit... ok, so those kinda reviews are just nice... thanks for reading!


	6. Summer plans and a tortoise

Hi, I am so sorry if anyone has been getting really annoyed with me about this, but I have an excuse! We recently got a new computer, and I currently have exams on so I've been studying, but I also had some trouble getting this on here for a while and have been having a breif panic attack thinking I wouldn't get to update, but all is well; this is what you get for password-protecting your word documents from prying family eyes. FF doesn't let you upload them, I'm not sure why, but oh well, its fine now :) enjoy!

"Aren't you excited?" Ella's trunk made a satisfying thumping sound as she lugged it down the marble stairs to the Entrance hall.

"I don't know, I mean, I miss my parents and my sister, but…" Albus looked around; a few portraits cheerfully waved him off "I'm going to miss it here."

"Don't worry," Ella smiled at him "We'll be back next year."

"Yeah," Albus nodded, his face cheering "We will."

"Ella! I've been looking everywhere for you!" Rose rushed towards them in an almost blur of red hair and black uniform. "I want-"

"Ella! You have to come, you didn't come at Christmas!" Cassie interrupted whatever Rose had been about to say.

"Come where?" Ella furrowed her brow as they pushed with the rush through the doors and across the lawns.

"I was just about to ask if you want to come to the summer house with us!" Rose laughed "And before you say you want to spend time with your family, say you spend a month with them and the rest of the time with us!"

"Well, I can ask…" Ella tilted her head, thinking about it, and was descended upon by her two friends in a tangle of girly squeals. When she was released back to Albus she was red-faced but otherwise grinning.

"You'll have a really good time, Ella," He said "If you come, that is…"

"I'd say," Rufus Pumpler, a Hufflepuff boy with curly chestnut hair that had befriended Albus earlier in the year, caught up with them "It was a really good time at Christmas, better than what it would have been at home with my aunt and cousins." Rufus's parents had gone missing three years ago, and he had been living with his muggle aunt, a single mother, and her three older sons.

"I should be able to," Ella nodded, "I don't need to be with them the whole summer."

Ella burst through the barrier, trying to keep casual, but really scanning the crowds for the bright glow of at least one of her sister's hair.

"Ella!" Deena's voice carried easily over the crowds, no doubt a result of her singing training. Ella sprinted, while dragging her colossal trunk, and leapt into her sister's arms, dropping her trunk beforehand, of course. Deena spun her in a circle before setting her down and ruffling her curls.

"Where's everyone else?" Ella questioned, but it was answered by her other sisters bounding towards them, screeching like a pack of banshees, and looking refreshingly muggle-like.

"Do you think her hair is longer?"

"Personally, I think she got taller…"

"Deena! Don't be horrible!"

"Yeah, it's ok Ella, you'll grow."

"I've missed you all so much!" Ella hugged and kissed each of her sisters. "Where are mum and dad?"

"They're at home." Abbey twirled the keys to the van around her index finger.

"Ella!" Rose rushed up "You have to meet- Oh, sorry…" She paused briefly as she observed Ella's sisters. After being introduced to her sisters, who she seemed slightly in awe of, she grabbed Ella's wrist "You all _must_ come meet my family! I've been telling them all about you!"

"Do you think they'll like me?" Ella asked, biting her lip.

"How could they not?" Rose giggled and dragged her friend towards her family. "Your sisters are all really pretty," Rose whispered lowly, glancing behind her at the trailing girls.

"I know!" Ella giggled. They descended on what was obviously the rest of the Weasley-Potter clan.

"These are my parents." Rose tugged her over to a couple. Rose's mother had long bushy brown hair, a trait Rose had obviously inherited, and kind chocolate eyes. Her husband was red-headed, like all other Weasleys, slightly balding and very tall.

"You must be Ella," Mrs Weasley said, smiling. She was dressed in muggle clothing, as they all were, but Ella remembered that she was muggle-born, too. "We've heard so much about you."

Ella blushed. "Nice to meet you, Mr and Mrs Weasley."

Mr Weasley laughed "Call us Hermione and Ron, Mr and Mrs Weasley are my parents, and we're not that old yet."

"Oh, sorry." Ella bit her lip, and blushed harder. She introduced her sisters and some small talk was exchanged.

"So, are you going to stay with us for part of the summer?" Hermione questioned.

"I don't know, I have to ask my parents."

"Oh, well, we should come meet them. You can't being staying with us and have your parents not know who you're staying with."

"Our parents would love that," Abbey spoke up "You can follow us back."

Ella gripped the door handle tightly so as to not to go flying through the window. The Jones daughters were not the best of drivers. She glanced out the window to see that they'd just made the turn into her street. With a jerk, the old van skidded into a stop in front of their house, narrowly avoiding taking out the mail box that had taken more than one beating by the van in its time.

"Celia," Abbey gasped from the passenger side "You might want to work on your turning."

"I thought I did alright…" Celia bristled.

"If you had no thumbs, C, you might have done alright." Bridget teased. They all laughed as they hopped out of the car.

"Do all muggles drive like that?" Rose whispered to Ella as she, her parents and Albus got out of their car.

"No. Just my family." Ella giggled as they followed her sisters up the path to the front door.

The Jones house was quite different compared the other houses on their suburban street. Her dad was a sculptor, so the left side of their front yard was littered with half-finished metal and wooden sculptures. And her mother was a florist, so the right side was devoted to her quite extensive range of flowers. The house itself was white and two stories tall, and in very good condition for how old it was. Ella could hear sixties music blaring and grinned.

Bridget grabbed the key out from under the pot plant that had been there since before Ella could remember and opened the front door.

"Cheer up sleepy Jeeeeean," Desmond Jones could be heard warbling.

"We're home!" Deena called over the music as they all filed in. Her parents obviously didn't hear, as Desmond was still singing. The group, Deena in front, strode into the living room and found Desmond and Molly Jones, laughing hysterically, dancing around the furniture.

"Oh!" Molly gasped as she saw the group gathered by the door. She dashed to the stereo and quickly flipped it off. "You're back." She blushed, though not quite as red as her daughters were known to.

"With company, too." Desmond noted the Weasleys; he was still grinning from dancing.

"Hi, I'm Molly Jones." Molly hurried forward and shook Hermione's hand "And you are?"

"I'm Hermione Weasley and this is my husband, Ron. We're Rose's parents, and Albus and James's aunt and uncle."

"Oh, yes, Ella told us about you in her letters!"

"Would you like a cup of tea?" Desmond gestured them towards the kitchen.

"That would be lovely." Hermione smiled. The adults went into the kitchen, and Ella's sisters had already disappeared to their respective rooms, leaving Ella, Albus and Rose alone.

"Uh, do you want to see my room?" Ella asked.

Rose and Albus only nodded, looking around with amused faces on.

Even though they had only just got home, her sisters had already begun whatever activities they'd been doing. Abbey had moved out before Ella had gone off to school and their mother had already turned her room into a new workshop, so Abbey was in Bridget's room chatting about her new boyfriend, Zach.

Celia was practicing her violin, running through some warm-up exercises. Celia's room was the smallest, and the barest. Celia was very simplistic when it came to things. All her room had was her bed with it blue bedspread, her small dresser and the poster, pinned above the ceiling, of Julliard, where she planned on going once finished with high school.

Deena's room was quite the opposite. Her stereo was on, blasting Metallica, and she was jabbering away on the phone to one of her friends. Her room looked as if her closet had thrown up all over it and her curtains were still closed from this morning, casting a deep purple glow over the room.

"My room's upstairs, next to the attic." Ella explained. She grabbed the hook and pulled down the trap door, the ladder descending with it, and the three friends climbed up. Ella smiled at the familiar corridor and turned left, opening the door to her room.

Her room was painted light blue and, being on the same floor as the attic, her ceiling sloped. She had covered it all manners of animal posters, from elephants to snakes. She had been quite proud of her collection, but being at Hogwarts for the whole year, it was quite strange that the pictures didn't move. The rest of her room was also pretty much the same as she had left it. The same dark blue bedspread on her single bed, the same ancient computer sitting on her white desk, the same pot plants her mother had gotten her for her birthday sitting on top of her bookshelf, filled with the same books she'd always had. It was nice to be back, if a little strange. It was so different from all that she had gotten used to at Hogwarts.

Something that was different, however, was the tank sitting at the foot of her bed.

"That's new." She mumbled, and wandered over, Albus and Rose in tow. She looked into it and gasped; sitting inside the tanks was a baby Giant Tortoise, only a few inches in length. "Oh my gosh!" She gasped, picking it up.

"What is that thing?" Rose asked, wrinkling her nose.

"It's a Giant tortoise!" Ella squeaked.

"Giant?" Albus asked "Doesn't look very big to me…"

"They can grow up to two metres!" Ella was flabbergasted that her parents had gotten her such a cool homecoming gift. She rushed down the ladder, being careful of her new pet, to thank them.

"Oh Ella, we were just going to call you down." Her mother said as Ella burst into the kitchen. Her parents and Rose's were sitting at the table, finishing up their tea. "It sounds wonderful. Of course you can spend the summer with the Potters and Weasleys. You'll have to stay here for two weeks though; we want to spend some time with you too."

Ella grinned before starting in on her enthusiasm at her new pet; this was going to be a _very_ good summer.

I hope that was good! The next chapter will actually be at the house! *GASP* Excitement ;) As always, please review, reviews are cool and I find myself loving those who do reveiw and doesn't everyone want to be loved? :D


	7. Minshk

This chapter is dedicated to the lovely Firevoid Spitzes, who has reveiwed every single chapter and given me the best advice ever. Firevoid, you're the best :)

I would also like to take this time to thank my other reviewers:

cheesecake15

Maggie Bee

SweetieCherrie

Magical-Lux

kirstie310

Kels

PixieRose14 (who actually gave me the thought of "Oh yeah, I have that chapter I've forgotten about and really need to post..." Thanks :D )

alicecullenisrealinmyworld

pottercullen-4ever

yellowsea25

Thank you so much for all your comments!

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Dear Ella,

Just writing a quick little letter to tell you about what's been happening these past two weeks.

Well, the whole family is at the summer house. And I mean everyone; There's Grandma and Granddad Weasley, my Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry, my Uncle George and Aunt Angelina, my Uncle Bill and my Aunt Fleur, my Uncle Percy and my Aunt Audrey, my Uncle Charlie, my Aunt Luna and my Uncle Rolf, and, of course, all of my cousins; James, Albus, Lily, Fred, Roxie, Victoire, Dominique, Louis, Molly, Lucy, Lorcan, Lysander and my younger brother Hugo. Cassie is here too, same with Teddy and my Uncle Kingsley said he might drop in at some point, so it's pretty crowded! The summer house is big though, so we don't have worry.

I'm so excited that you're coming; you're going to love it here! Even though this place is huge, we still have to share rooms. We'll all be out in the kids' house while the parents all have their own bedrooms in the main house, but that's fine anyway. The arrangement is you, Cassie, Lily and I in one room, Roxie, Victoire, Dominique, Molly and Lucy in the other room and across the hall all the boys will be in the biggest room, but they'll still be nice and cosy. Ha-ha.

There's quite a lot to do at the summer house; it's a big piece of land and not only is there a forest, protecting us from muggle eyes (no offence to your family if they're reading this too.) but there's a decent sized field where we can play Quidditch. You don't have to if you don't want to, you can watch with the others. Sometimes, if we're lucky, the adults will play against us.

About the end of this week, mum decided it would be easier if we came and picked you up. Well, it won't exactly be "we"; everyone is really busy so my Aunt Luna volunteered to come fetch you with Albus and me. My Aunt Luna is a bit odd, but very fun. I just hope she doesn't say anything weird to your parents.

We'll come fetch you at around noon on Saturday, so make sure you're packed and ready by then.

Love,

Rose

P.s Don't forget your swimming things. The summer house has a lake!

P.p.s Albus says hello

P.p.p.s About the tortoise thing, everyone has brought all their cats and owls, and Mum said she didn't think it would be very safe for poor Qayyum. He might get eaten!

P.p.p.p.s The rest of the family says hello

Ella reread the letter for probably the millionth time since Rose had sent Bilius with it. That had been Monday and now it was Saturday. Ella hummed slightly to herself and looked down at her tortoise, Qayyum, slightly upset that he wouldn't be joining her on her first time at the Weasley-Potter summer house, but more than happy to leave him behind in one of her sisters' care if it meant he wouldn't be eaten by a cat or owl. Giant tortoises, when full grown, didn't have to worry about any predators, except humans, because they could grow to be almost two metres and weigh over 400 kg, as Ella had read on the internet.

"I'm sorry, Qayyum." She picked up the tortoise, he was growing quite rapidly. Her parents said he was a dome-backed species, which was the biggest of them all, so he would grow to be quite huge. Looking at him now, Ella found it hard to believe that he would grow to be almost two metres or over, but she had started documenting his weight and height, just to see how fast he really did grow. Right now he was the size of a small turtle.

She put him back down on the floor. Ella had felt bad keeping him in his little cage, so she let him roam free around her room. She waved to Qayyum and then hopped down the ladder and down to Bridget's room. She knocked on the door.

"Come in, Ella." Bridget said. She opened the door. Both Bridget and Abbey were in there, Bridget on her bed and Abbey, cross-legged in her desk chair. They both smiled at her.

"What's up?" Abbey asked.

"How did you know it was me?"

"You're the only one who knocks like that. Deena just barges in and Celia knocks much harder than you do." Abbey explained.

"Oh," She nodded, hopping up on the bad and sitting down next to Bridget, who started playing with her hair. "Well, I was wondering Abbey, um, if you could possibly take Qayyum to your house while I'm away?"

"Don't you want to keep him here?"

"I'm sure mum and dad would look after him fine, but he's not really used to too many people and they'd probably keep him in his cage downstairs and I know, at your apartment, you'd be able to let him loose and he'll be really good, I promise!" she crossed her fingers, behind her back.

"Well, I'm sure I could take him, but, er, where does he preform his, uh, bodily functions?" Abbey and Bridget wrinkled their noses.

"Oh, he does that in his cage." Ella waved a hand "It's quite odd actually."

"Oh, sure, I can take him."

"Thank you so much Abbey!" she hopped off the bad and quickly hugged her sister, who laughed, and she skipped out to go pack up Qayyum and check she had all her things.

"You'll be fine at Abbey's, Qayyum, she'll let you out, probably in her living room and Zach is really nice. I've even written Abbey a list of what she needs to kn-"

"Uh, Ella?" Albus was standing there, hands in his pockets, smiling slightly. Ella blushed crimson and hopped up, Qayyum still in her arms.

"Oh, Albus! Hi! You gave me a fright! I, um, was just…"

"It's ok; I always talk to Bilius too. I won't tell anyone." He half-smiled at her, a habit of his, she'd noticed. "My Aunt Luna is downstairs with your parents, and Rose and I think she's telling them about her recent trip looking for Crumple-Horned Snorcacks, so we should probably move fast."

"What's a Crumple-Horned Snorcack?" Ella asked, putting Qayyum into his cage and hefting it into her arms, along with her bag.

"You can ask my Aunt Luna, she'll be happy to tell you." He laughed as he lowered her trunk down the ladder. The two lugged all her baggage down to the kitchen, where Ella could hear her dad and someone else, presumably Luna, because she was talking very slowly and dreamily.

"We didn't have any definite sightings, but we did spot a few hoof prints that were definitely from a Snorcack and there was gauging on the trees that couldn't have been made by anything except a Snorcack. Quite amazing…" Luna was possibly the most interesting person Ella had ever seen in her kitchen. She was of medium height, very pale, with very wide blue eyes and very, very long (almost brushing her knees) white blonde hair, slightly like her mother's and Abbey's, though her hair was grubbier and didn't have the same gold tone to it that theirs did. Also, she had never seen either of them braid a prickly leaf type plant into their hair. And her clothes! She was wearing robes, like most witches and wizards did who didn't have contact with the muggle world, but even by that standard they were extravagant. They were salmon coloured, so long that she had a train, and the outfit was completed by a necklace of corks and radish earrings. She glanced towards the door and saw Albus and Ella standing there

"Oh, you must be Ella," Luna floated dreamily towards her "I'm Luna Lovegood. Did you know you have curly hair? That's very good for warding off Minshk. They're a type of insect, you know, quite nasty. I braid my hair so I can have some protection against them."

Ella only nodded at that statement. She caught Albus's eye and they both held back laughter.

"Um, Aunt Luna, should we go now?" Rose suggested "Grandma Weasley really wants to meet Ella…"

"Oh, yes. I suppose we should." Luna muttered and turned to the door, Rose, Ella, Albus and Ella's father trailing after her. "It was very nice to meet you, Desmond. I hope you do get that wrackspurt infestation you have cleared up." Luna swept through the front door.

"Nice to meet you too, Luna." Desmond chuckled; he seemed very amused by Luna Lovegood. He caught Ella's arm as she went through the door "Look after yourself pumpkin, and write us some letters and maybe send some pictures to show us how you're summer is going."

"Love you Dad." She wrapped her arms around him.

"Love you too, have fun."

Ella pulled away and jogged after her friends who were all packed into a cherry red and large old-fashioned car. Luna was behind the driver's seat and she pulled out her wand and tapped the steering wheel. The engine spluttered to life

"This is Aunt Luna's car." Rose explained as she strapped her seatbelt on quite tightly "She only just recently bought it."

"That means that Aunt Luna is a worse driver than your sister." Albus whispered in Ella's ear as he strapped her seatbelt on for her. Ella double-checked that it was fastened.

The summer house was very big, Ella concluded, as Luna drove the car along the gravel driveway lined with trees that had seemed to last for miles. One thing was sure; no muggle could see what was going on in the huge two storied grey brick mansion. A woman, round, smiling, and brandishing a wand burst out of the front door.

"I hope my grandchildren are all in one piece!" She called, striding towards the car. Everyone hopped out; three happy to be on solid ground, Luna proud of her driving skills.

"We're fine, Gran." Rose giggled as she accepted a hug from her grandmother. "This is Ella Jones. Ella, this is my Grandma."

"Nice to meet you Mrs Weasley." Ella put her hand out for a shake and was surprised when she was pulled in for a hug.

"I've heard so much about you, Ella," Mrs Weasley was a fantastic hugger.

"I've heard a lot about your cooking," Ella laughed as she was released.

"Oh, and don't worry, I've already been told you're a vegetarian. I've not made many vegetarian meals, but I'm sure I'll manage."

"It'll be wonderful." Ella smiled.

"Oh, bless you!" Mrs Weasley beamed down at her as they made their way towards the house.

Ella's first impression of the summer house was that it was very noisy. And busy. The door immediately opened up to an entrance area that reminded Ella vaguely of the owlery at Hogwarts, as there was a number of assorted owls perched around the room. She recognised Bilius snoozing in one of the higher eaves and, with an excited twittering, a miniscule owl swished down and spun around her head.

"Out of the way, Pig!" Mrs Weasley cried and then to Ella: "You can leave your shoes here, dear."

Ella took off her shoes and was lead into a long hallway lined with portraits and picture frames. A couple of the inhabitants waved to her but most were too busy dashing in and out of frames and chatting with their neighbours. Luna, who had been with them before, disappeared through the only door to their left as Mrs Weasley led them through the hallway, and giving a tour.

"Through this door," Mrs Weasley pointed to the first door on their right "is the staircase that leads to all the adult bedrooms. And this door," she pointed to the second door on their right "is to the dining room and this one," She pushed open the door and led them through into kitchen filled with people "is the kitchen." Ella had never been in a magical kitchen before, and it was quite an experience. There was a multitude of pots on the stove, all stirring themselves, and being monitored by a woman with long silvery blonde hair and an absolutely stunning face. Ella supposed she must be Victoire and Dominique's mother. Opposite the stove and benches was a large fireplace, and sitting in front of it was a young girl with long red hair and a boy with bushy brown hair, chatting together. Sitting at the table in the centre, was Hermione and another woman with long fiery red hair, a lot like the little girl by the fire; they were chatting and looked up from magically skinning potatoes to the four people in the doorway.

"Oh, you're back," Hermione got up, the other woman followed "And not damaged from Luna's driving?"

"We're fine, Mum," Rose laughed again "It wasn't that bad."

"Except for that point when she started driving on the other side of the road…" Albus mumbled, causing Ella to giggle. "And this is my mum," He gestured to the red-haired woman

"Hi, I'm Ginny Potter." She smiled and swept her eyes over Ella, head to foot

"Hi," Ella blushed. Ginny Potter had freckles, and brown eyes, and while not being ugly (quite pretty, actually), she was not as stunning as the woman who swooped over from the stove and kissed Ella on both cheeks.

"You must be zee Ella everyone 'as been talking about!" She cried in a heavy French accent "I am Fleur; I am Victoire and Dominique's mother!"

"Nice to meet you," Ella mumbled, blushing even harder.

"Where are the others?" Mrs Weasley asked, checking the pots on the stove

"They're all in the sitting room, watching Ron and Percy play chess." Ginny answered "And the kids are all at the lake."

"Hmm, could you take Ella to the sitting room then, to meet everyone?" Mrs Weasley pointed her wand at a pot as she spoke.

"Sure," Ginny nodded "Follow me." She led them back down the hallway and through the door on their left. The sitting room was an assortment of armchairs, a big poofy purple couch and a coffee table. On that coffee table a game of wizarding chess was being played between Ron and another tall, thin, red-headed man, though he was wearing horn-rimmed glasses and was wearing an expression of intense concentration, quite opposite to Ron's easy grin. Circled around them were a number of adults, who Ella assumed was everyone's parents.

"Oi," Ginny called; everyone looked up and Ella blushed as she felt eyes land on her "This is Ella, Albus and Rose's friend; she's staying with us for the rest of the summer. Ella this is Percy," The man in the horn-rimmed glasses nodded in an irritated way, "Bill," Bill had a ponytail, an earring, and thick scars marring one side of his handsome face "Charlie," Charlie was shorter and much stockier than the other Weasleys, "Rolf," Rolf, having black, shoulder-length hair, obviously wasn't a Weasley "Audrey," Long brown hair pulled back in a bun, and a smirk on her face as she watched the chess "George," was a paler, more freckled Fred and, obviously, older with his arm wrapped around a black, grinning woman who was "Angelina, you've met Luna and that's Harry." Harry Potter didn't look as intimidating or amazing as History of Magic had painted him. He was tall, though shorter than the Weasley men, quite thin, and looked almost exactly like Albus, down to the bit of hair that stuck out at the back of his head. The differences were, of course, that Harry was more lined and the lightning-bolt shaped scar that Ella could see sticking out from under his fringe. Ella found herself quite unnerved, looking between Albus and Harry. Fred laughed as he came over.

"Uncanny, isn't it?" He winked at her. Ella nodded and blushed.

"Good to meet you, Ella." Harry put his hand out and shook hers. Ella cursed her blushing and noticed, as she glanced up, that Harry and Albus had identical eyes.

"Albus," Ginny smiled down at them as Harry wrapped an arm around her "How about you and Rose show Ella where she'll be sleeping and take her down to the lake."

* * *

As always, I hope I haven't dissapointed anyone!

Please review, they're appreciated and if I should change anything let me know! :)


	8. Stray biting

Hello readers :)

Well, I'm sorry this has taken so long, and I hope I haven't lost anyone because of that :(

I would like to give an incredibly loud shout out to FleurXdeXlis (I hope I spelt that right) who gave me the SWEETEST review. Thank you so much!

I have noticed my spelling mistakes, and I'm normally a complete grammar and spelling nazi, so I don't exactly get what happens to me when I'm writing this. I hope theres nothing in this chapter!

Please reveiw!

* * *

Rose's shriek rang in Ella's ears and mingled with her own and Cassie's as they plunged, hands clasped, into the cold water of the lake about five minutes away from the Summer house. She surfaced but shrieked again when something wrapped around her ankle and tugged. She surfaced yet again, choking on inhaled water, to the sound of James in hysterics over his joke.

"Sorry Ella," He gasped through giggles "Meant to grab Cassie, but your reaction was much better!"

She finished coughing, pushed her curls off her face, and swept her arm through the water, splashing James in the face.

"Water fight!" was screamed and, naturally, chaos ensued.

After much scratching and a stray bite dealt to Fred, Teddy decided to intervene, only to get sucked into the fight himself. Cassie tackled Rose, Albus dunked James repeatedly and Ella and Fred dealt with Teddy, who, unfortunately, had to try and fight both off at once. Eventually, though, Victoire managed to stop the fight. Some well-chosen words and an interesting wand flourish had the water warriors all gasping for breath and spitting out water after a large wave had carried them all to shore.

"That was fun!" Ella gasped as she pushed herself into a sitting position and wrung the water out from her auburn curls.

"That's the only thing we do around here, Jones." James laughed "Have fun."

Ella glanced at herself in the mirror. As she looked, she'd realised it had been a very long time since she'd really, actually, looked at herself. Sure, she always checked how she'd looked in the morning before heading down to breakfast, but those were just brief checks, only to make sure she didn't look visually offensive.

She looked at herself now. First, her hair; she'd always liked her hair; it was the best thing about her appearance, in her opinion. It fell in strawberry blonde ringlets that shone nicely and never, ever frizzed, as curly hair is likely to do. She was lucky, she supposed, for that. Next came her face, something she wasn't so happy with. Small mouth, nothing wrong with it, small nose, but her eyes, she felt, were just a little too big for the rest of her face. She had long lashes though, which was nice. Next came her skin. Well, on her face it was currently as white as ever, thanks to her hair covering her face and neck, but when she slipped back the sleeve of her nightie her shoulder was very red from sunburn.

Overall, she thought, her appearance was alright. Nice, if you thought about it. No, she'd never be exotic-looking, like Cassie, or as wild as Rose, or as effortlessly beautiful as Victoire or Dominique, but that was ok. You got what you got, right?

"Hey Ella?" Rose called from the other side of the room where she sat on her bed "Can I brush your hair?"

"Sure." She smiled and picked up her brush.

"Ooh, maybe we can braid it!" Cassie strode over as well.

Rose very lightly pulled the brush through Ella's ringlets and sighed "Ella, your hair is so nice." Unconsciously echoing Ella's previous thoughts.

"It's a family thing." She explained. "Everyone except Dad has really nice hair."

"Well, then maybe you should adopt me!" Rose giggled.

"I don't think my dad would like that, he's got enough girls around him as it is."

"It must be cool having so many siblings, Ella" Cassie sighed "And you Rose, your family is so close your cousins are like your siblings. It's just me back home."

"I don't like it that much." Rose shook her head as she separated Ella's hair into three sections. "I'll never be as pretty as Victoire or Dominique, or as funny as James and Fred, or as smart as Molly, or as cool as Roxie, or even as sweet as Lily. I just talk, and most people find it annoying."

"I don't find it annoying, Rose." Ella smiled at her friend.

"Personally, I love it." Cassie grinned "It means you're not like everyone else."

"Thanks," Rose blushed.

"What about you, Ella? Do you feel the same way?" Cassie continued.

"No…" Ella tilted her head, considering "My sisters always give me really good advice, and I've never much liked attention anyway. I don't really like people knowing all these things about me. I've always been the quieter one, but I've never felt unappreciated because of that."

"What are we talking about?" Victoire asked as she strode in on the three girls, Lily trailing behind her, their hands laced together.

"Families."

"Oh what-" Her question broke off as she caught sight of Ella's hair. Rose and Cassie had been arranging into pigtails, but as there were two of them doing it, it was horribly lopsided. "Oh no," Victoire sighed "Firstly, those pigtails are lopsided, and secondly, Ella already looks younger than she is, and she's very pale, if you put her hair like that it will only make her look like a three year old Heidi." She waved the two girls away. "Let me do it." She shook her head as she undid the two braids.

"I thought it would look nice." Rose defended, sitting down on the bed with Cassie and Lily to watch Victoire work her magic.

"Ella always looks nice." Victoire grinned at Ella's reflection in the mirror "But we're going to make her look very pretty indeed." She pulled all of Ella's hair back, got to work and all the girls fell into silence and just watched. In a matter of around 10 minutes, Victoire had scraped all of Ella's hair back into an immaculate French plait.

Ella smiled at her reflection. It seemed that anything Victoire touched immediately turned beautiful without detracting any of Victoire's own beauty. So maybe Ella would never be as gorgeous as Victoire but she had no problem being the girl who sat opposite her in the mirror. With her hair pulled back, it showed off her cheekbones and made her pale skin seem almost luminescent.

There was a knock at the door. All the girls turned to look at the boys, Hugo and Albus in front, huddled in the doorway.

"We just came to say goodnight." Albus explained.

"Doesn't she look good?" Victoire smiled and twisted Ella around so the boys could see. James let out a low wolf whistle, Fred winked, Hugo nodded and then Ella turned to Albus, expectant. He half-smiled at her.

"You look amazing."

Ella felt the blush creep up her neck and redden her face to what was probably a very fantastic colour, akin to her sunburn. And with a chorus of goodnights', the boys left. Ella was still blushing and glanced at herself in the mirror again. She did look good, didn't she?

"Hey Ella?" Lily was next to her, tugging on her sleeve. "Do you like Albus?"

"Well, we're friends."

"No, but I mean do you really like him?" Lily persisted "Like, wanting to kiss him?"

"Lily!" Victoire gasped.

"Of course she doesn't!" Rose exclaimed "That's ridiculous... Isn't it?" She glanced at Cassie and Victoire, who were silent. She turned to Ella. "Do you, Ella?"

"I…" She mumbled, looking down "I don't really… I mean he… I don't know…"

"You do, don't you?" Cassie giggled.

Ella gave a deep sigh and nodded.

The shrieks of her friends were suppressed, as they didn't want the boys to come running back, but they were shrieks nonetheless.

"That's so weird!" Rose laughed.

"It's really weird!" Cassie continued

"It's wonderful!" Victoire countered.

Wonderful, thought Ella. She thought so. But did Albus?

"Don't tell anyone," Ella pleaded "Especially not Albus."

"We promise." They all, even Lily, chorused.

* * *

So, I hope you liked it :D


	9. Tobias Arthur Leopold Pumpler III

Hey there, I haven't updated for a while, and I'm sorry, but I love all the reviews I'm getting! They're awesome! And thanks to all those who favourite-ed and story alert-ed! You're lovely! And I'm also starting to wonder if I've developed an actual following, which would be really, really quite coolies. Spread the word! If you can, you might be mute, so in that case, spread the sign! (is that the correct term, or am I offending by not using word? Still, give me points for supporting the mute)

So I've made a bit of a time jump, and I'm hoping to spend less time on third year as I did on first, and I'm going to try to get chapters out faster.

You might also get a bit weirded out by the mood in this chapter, and I'd just like to say I wrote this in three parts, and in the middle I was kinda feeling a bit down on myself, but in the end I was feeling happy, so this chapter looks really weird to me, but here I am giving it to you anyway.

* * *

Ella hiccoughed. For once, she was glad she had the hiccoughs. The reason? The Quidditch World Cup Final, Switzerland versus Australia, was going on and Ella, not fond of Quidditch for obvious reasons, found listening to Quidditch even worse. This appeared to be the most brutal game ever.

"Ooh, great bludger by Hawson from Australia, hit Amiel right in the shoulder. That looks like a broken-"

"Hic- I think I'll go get some wa-hic-ter" Ella hopped up, not wanting to hear what was broken. A couple of the clan just nodded, all huddled around the old wireless, but most were too intent on the game to really even notice that she'd spoken. Ella shook her head at their obsession as she strode into the kitchen and grabbed a glass from the cupboard. They should really all change their names, Ella mused as she filled the glass with water, from Weasley or Potter to Insaneforquidditch. She briefly thought about getting that printed on a scarf for all of them for next Christmas when her thoughts were interrupted by James' shout from next door.

"Ooh! He ploughed into the ground! Imagine what that did to his face!"

"All that blood!" Fred crowed.

Ella didn't particularly want to think about it, but now it was in her head. She shuddered, and felt the water she had been sipping creep back up her throat slightly. She sucked in a deep breath to calm her nervous stomach. She hated blood, and broken bones, and bruises… Anything confrontational, really, now that she thought about it. Wimp, she could hear Cassie smirk in her head. Well, that was better to think about than… Now it was in her head again.

Fresh air would be good, she surmised, and stumbled out the kitchen door into the backyard. The wind rustled her hair back and filled her lungs with a refreshing breeze of air. That's better, she thought as she leaned against the trunk of the colossal weeping willow that stood before the path down to the lake. It was okay being a wimp, she went back to her previous train of thought. Why would you want to go around beating everyone up and being horrible? Or getting excited at the sight of blood? No, she certainly didn't want to be like that.

She didn't want to be a coward though, either. It wouldn't make her a very good Gryffindor. Did you have to like blood to be a good Gryffindor? Was flying part of being a good Gryffindor? Rose and Cassie were good Gryffindors, they weren't afraid to speak their minds. Ella thought about it, it wasn't that she had nothing to express, was it? She had views? Yes, that was stupid, everyone had views. I'm boring, she thought to herself.

"Ella?" It was Luna who stepped out from the kitchen, "You know talking to yourself is the first sign of madness."

Ella bit back a giggle at the irony "I wasn't talking to myself."

"You just said 'I'm boring' to no one, that's quite odd, don't you think?"

"Did I? I thought I only thought it?" Ella blushed.

"Oh, well, then don't worry, it's the foxglove that does that." Luna waved a hand, as if brushing away her former accusation. Ella, confused, looked around the small garden for the pink flowered plant known as foxglove. There was none.

"Mrs Lovegood? There is no foxglove at the Summer house…"

"Of course there is, foxglove is a spore from a mucus-like fungus that is breathed in by people and makes them do the oddest things."

"Oh," Ella nodded.

"Mm, well, I'm off to find it, I'm going to get rid of it before it affects anyone else." And with a swish of floaty silver and mint green robes, she ambled down the path toward the lake.

* * *

A few hours later, Ella found herself outside again, except this time it was after dinner and she was with Albus, alone.

"Pig!" Albus cupped his hands around his mouth as he called for the owl. "He's probably gotten himself stuck in a tree or something."

Albus, Rose, Cassie, James, Fred, Hugo, Lily and her had been instructed to go and find Pig, who though now quite old, especially for an owl, still occasionally went off gallivanting. Usually he'd be back after an hour or so, squeaking excitedly in a curiously raspy way, but now he'd been gone for over three. Ron, still listening to the Quidditch, had told them to split into groups of two and go look for him in the small wood by the Summer house, where he liked to haunt.

"He's so small, though," Ella contradicted, "How could he get stuck in anything? And it isn't as if he could be afraid of heights."

"He might be," Albus laughed, "He's not exactly the most normal of owls, and old age can do funny things to people. Or owls, in this case."

Ella laughed "That is positively ridiculous."

"Yeah, well, maybe my Aunt Luna is catching." He grinned at her, "How would I look in silver robes?"

Just as she was finished laughing and was about to reply, she tripped over a root and planted her face into the trunk of a tree. This particular tree was not very thick, and the force of her face pushing itself into the base was enough to shake it, and send a recently awoken Pigwidgeon sliding down the trunk and eventually perching on the end of Ella's nose.

One does not usually expect to find a scops owl sliding down a trunk to perch on their nose after they have just fallen over in front of a boy they had a crush on, and Ella acted as accordingly as one with a newly found splitting headache and sore eye could.

Namely, she let out a blood curdling scream and attempted to propel herself backwards when faced with the large and surprised yellow eyes of an animal she had not yet identified as Pig.

Pig, having already just been awoken by being shaken out of the tree, did not take kindly to the screaming and promptly, with a high-pitched squeak, took off and frantically starting buzzing around Albus' head.

Albus was, at that moment in time, still staring, dumbstruck, at Ella on the ground, but then suddenly regained his senses and rushed towards her, Pig still buzzing around his head like a large feathered fly.

"Are you alright?" He asked as she rolled over onto her back with a groan.

"Mm, I schtripped…" She muttered, blinking her watering eyes. All she could see was a smudge of black that was Albus' hair, a flesh-coloured smudge below it, punctuated by two hazy green spots that must have been his eyes.

"Pardon?" He laughed as he wrapped his hands around her wrist to pull her up "You stripped?"

"No," she mumbled as she stumbled upright, and started dipping forward. Albus caught her before she could fall again. "Tripped." She blinked a few more times. The terrified screeching of Pig was stabbing into a place behind her eyes. "Ow."

"Yeah. Hold on." He let go of her for a second, snatched Pig out of the air in a quick movement, and pulled one of her arms over his shoulder. She leant heavily on him "I think you've got a concussion."

"No, I should be fine, just a bump." She muttered, privately wondering why she had to be so stupid and unobservant.

"You're not stupid." Albus denied. She really had to get control of her thoughts, she decided, as the inevitable blush spread over her cheeks. "Everyone trips over. Did I ever tell you about my fifth birthday? James, thinking it would be funny, set off a firework behind me. I screamed, stumbled forward and ended up plunging, face first, into my cake in front of everyone. Grandma Weasley had spent ages on it too; it was decorated in the colours of the Holyhead Harpies, my favourite team, and it was charmed so that the colours flashed. There's a great picture of me with this flashing icing covering my face."

Ella laughed. "Thanks. That does make me feel better."

"No problem." He smiled "And, hey, we found Pig, mission accomp-"

Ella had to interrupt him there, because there was something she had to do. She stopped suddenly, stopping Albus as well, and looked at him. She swallowed. His face was quite close. She leaned in…

And Pig let out a squeak. Ella lost her nerve, and clumsily pecked him on the cheek instead.

* * *

"Thanks for dropping me off!" Ella hugged Abbey and waved to Zach, who ruffled her hair. They were standing in between platforms nine and ten, a good distance from the barrier

"Want some help getting your things on the train?" He asked. Ella liked Zach; it was hard not to like someone who her sister loved so much. Abbey practically glowed when he was around. He was a tall man, with dark brown skin, and a swimmer's build. His hair was shoulder length, with corkscrew curls. You couldn't find two people who looked more opposite; but it didn't matter.

"Oh, no, we've got to get back!" Abbey whacked him on the shoulder with a little too much force. She was never a good actress. "We've got that, um, thing, with my, er, parents."

"We do?" He quirked an eyebrow. He, of course, had no idea that Ella was a witch, and went to Hogwarts, and that all of her school friends were magical. Or that dragons, and hippogriffs, and three-headed dogs existed. And that her tortoise was so unnaturally large for his age because he'd managed to eat a textbook page that had accidentally been saturated with a particularly potent Skele-Gro potion that Molly Weasley II had been experimenting with for her Advanced Potions Class.

"Yeah. Ella will be fine." Abbey laughed in a high-pitched, unnatural way. "Oh look! There's Rose, and her family! We better be off Zach! Bye Ella!" She dragged her bemused boyfriend by the hand hurriedly away, leaving Ella with her trunk, tortoise hutch and screeching best friends heading towards her at an Olympic pace.

"Ella!"

"Ella Jones!"

"Rose! Cassie! Albus!"

"How was your summer?"

"You look a bit burnt…"

"Cassie, you look tanned!"

"France does that!"

"Oh Ella!" Rose grabbed her arm as they both slipped through the barrier. "You just have to see the photos my dad got developed over the summer. They're the ones from our summer first year, when you stayed at the Summer house. There's a great picture of us all at the lake!"

"And that black eye you got when we went looking for Pig." James butted in, appearing suddenly from the mist surrounding the train, and snickered. Ella blushed.

"Hey, how'd you get permission to bring Q?" Cassie butted in, nodding toward the cage holding the tortoise as they hauled their things onto the train. He was currently chomping quite happily away on his lettuce.

"Well-thanks Hugo-" the gangly second-year, already tall for his age, stowed her trunk for her, "Luna apparently rid Professor Macmillan's house of a particularly bad foxglove infestation, and he owed her a favour, and she used it for me."

"Now, I know Hogwarts loves having weird headmasters, but Ernie Macmillan is just ridiculous!" Rose sniffed, looking intensely like her mother.

"Hey, it's Rufus." Albus steered them into the carriage holding Rufus… and a small, excited white terrier.

"Who's this?" Cassie asked as the terrier excitedly yipped around them.

"Tobias Arthur Leopold Pumpler the third." Rufus stated proudly, "My Great Grand-uncle's name. We call him Toby for short. Seems like the headmaster abolished the old pet laws, and anything small is pretty much allowed."

"Yeah, we know." Ella laughed opening Qayyum's cage and hauling the tortoise into her lap. "Good old Luna."

"Good new third year" Cassie grinned.

"Agreed." The rest chorused.

* * *

Oooooooooooooh, romance!

Thanks for reading. Sorry if you didn't like my pets thing... I liked it :D


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